Sickness, strangely, can be the path to self-knowledge

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Born in a nursing home in 1945, I have never spent a night in hospital in my life. I am not wishing to tempt fate or offer a hostage to fortune. I am merely acknowledging the fact of the extraordinary good health I have enjoyed so far throughout my life.

I recognise, therefore, that I have no qualifications to speak of ill-health from my own experience. As a priest, I have been a chaplain in hospitals and for almost 20 years, when I had different responsibilities, it was my good fortune to spend a week with sick pilgrims in Lourdes.